Now if you’re a regular reader you’ll know that we at Creative Towers love a spot of yarn work. Knitting, crochet, cats cradle, you name it, we’re with you. So it was with glee that we headed down to Nottingham Contemporary this afternoon to have a look at the results of the Big Poppy Knit.

For those of you who weren’t aware, BBC Radio Nottingham put out a call a few months back for knitted or crocheted poppies – they wanted 11,000 to mark the number of Nottinghamshire men who had fallen in the First World War. The knitters of Nottingham didn’t fail them – we sent almost four times the required amount! *later edit – since originally posting, the Poppy Knit has reached 60,000 poppies! You are all amazing!

The results of the knit are on display at the Contemporary this weekend. The display is amazing. Circles of poppies are arranged on the floor, or in a tide against the wall. The lighting is subtle and the names of the fallen scroll through on the wall above the display.

The room was pretty busy when I was there – certainly the busiest I’ve ever seen the Contemporary, except for the Christmas craft market. I asked a couple of elderly ladies who were studying the flowers with intent if they could recognise their efforts.

“Absolutely!” one replied. “It will just leap out at me.” The other said, “I might find it – I know it’s mine, I dropped some stitches…” I’m sure that was just false modesty.

The Big Poppy Knit is on display at the Contemporary all weekend so I urge you to take a look if you’re that way in the next couple of days. Pop down to the lower floor (next to the coffee shop) for a look – you can also sign the book of remembrance and donate to the Royal British Legion in return for taking away a home made poppy.

Sue Barsby

A Southerner displaced, Sue is a writer, knitter, conker fetishist, bewildered working parent and caffeine appreciator. When no-one is watching, she likes to dance to John Paul Young’s Love is in the Air. She is one of the authors of Circ: A Ten to One novel. She blogs a lot. You can follow her on Twitter at @basfordian.

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